Device for stretching furs or skins.



R. H. BULLIS.

DEVICE FOR STRBTGHING FURS 0R SKIN3.

APPLICATION FILED OUT. 14, 1909. I

Patented Oct. 4, 1910.

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ROY I-I. BULLIS, 0F WINNEBAGO, MINNESOTA.

DEVICE FOR STRETCHING FURS 0R SKINS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RoY I-I. BULLIS, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Vinnebago, in the county of Faribault and State ofMinnesota,have invented anew and Improved Device for Stretching Furs orSkins, of which the following is a full, clear, and eXact description.

This invention relates to means for stretching and holding the skin of awild animal in a smooth, stretched condition while the skin is drying,and more particularly for preventing the skin of a fur-bearing animalfrom shrinking while it is drying.

The object of my invention is to provide a novel, simple device that maybe readily applied upon the skin of an animal while it is in freshcondition, and after its engagement therewith be adapted to receive suchadjustment as will stretch the skin in different directions, and retainthe skin in distended condition until the device is purposely removedtherefrom.

The invention consists in the novel con struction and combination ofparts, as is hereinafter described and defined in the appended claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part ofthis speci fication, in which similar characters of reference indicatecorresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the improved stretcher device appliedfor distending a skin; Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view of the stretcherframe; and Fig. 3 is an enlarged broken, longitudinal, sectional view,taken substantially on the line 33 in Fig. 2.

The improved stretcher frame is preferably formed of wire rod materialand mainly consists of a piece of resilient wire having suflicientlength and thickness to adapt the frame for effective service.

In the construction of the device, a plurality of integral ring eyes aare formed at intervals on one end portion of a wire rod from which thestretcher frame is to be made. At a suitable distance from the end ofthe rod having a ring eye a thereon, the material is bent at a rightangle, as shown at b, affording a cross bar 5, whereon the ring eyes aare formed. The main portion of the wire rod that extends from the bendb is return bent at its longitudinal center, as shown Specification ofLetters Patent.

Application filed October 14, 1909.

Patented Get. a, 1910. Serial No. 522,561.

at c in Fig. 2, said bend c forming an ovateshaped end for the frame,and as shown, the bends b and 0 are disposed in the same plane with thatoccupied by the ring eyes a. The formation of the ovate-shaped bend 0provides two side bars 6 and 7 for the stretcher frame, and normallysaid side bars may be disposed parallel with each other, as is shown byfull lines and dotted lines in Fig. 2, or may be diverged from eachother by the resilience of the material. The side bar 7 that is farthestfrom the bend b is provided with a hook member (Z that projects at aright angle therefrom and toward the cross bar 5, said hook beingadapted for insertion downward into either of the ring eyes a, as shownin Fig. 1.

A link rod 8, preferably formed of wire, is a detail of the improvement,it consisting of a wire rod having a series of spaced ring eyes 6 formedthereon and projected from the same side of the rod level with eachother. One end of the link rod 8 is secured upon the cross bar 5, thusdisposing said link rod at a suitable distance from the bend b andadapted for adjustment in a plane parallel with the frame side bars 6,7, when it is rocked so as to project toward the bend c at the forwardend of the stretcher frame.

A duplex coupling hook is a completing feature of the invention, and asshown, consists of a wire rod, bent at its center so as to form an openring 9 thereon and produce l two limbs 9, 9, of an equal length, thatterminate in oppositely bent hooks 7t, h, the limbs normally divergingfrom each other at an acute angle, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3.

To preserve the skins of small animals, such as musk rats, skunks orsquirrels so that after their removal from the carcass they will dry inproper condition, it is essential that when the skins are stripped fromthe bodies of the animals, they be distended so as to avoid wrinkles andleft to dry in a stretched condition.

Assuming that the skin or fur-bearing pelt A of an animal has beenremoved therefrom without splitting the pelt, the improved stretcherframe is applied for the distension of the hide as follows: The frontend 0 of the stretcher frame is introduced into the open rear end of thepelt, and pushed therein, so that the frame is fully inserted. The sidebar 7 is now diverged from the bar 6, so as to stretch the skinlaterally, and the hook (Z is inserted downward into the nearest ringeye a, for retention of the side bar as adjusted. The hooks 7t, it, arenow hooked into the rear edge portion of the pelt A, centrally betweenthe frame bars 6, 7, after the duplex hook piece has been engaged withone of the ring eyes 0 011 the link rod 8.

It will be noted that as the length of skins varies, the provision ofthe plurality of spaced ring eyes a on the link rod 8, is veryessential, as the skin, after it is mounted upon the side bars 6, 7, maybe stretched lengthwise a proper degree by a suitable adj ustment of theduplex hook piece on the link rod 8, to efiect which one hook 7t and thelimb 9 on which it is formed, are passed through an appropriate ring eye6 until the open ring 9 is engaged with said ring eye, thus looselysecuring the duplex hook piece on the link rod, as is clearly shown inFig. 3.

The skin that is shown mounted upon the stretcher frame has the furexposed, but it is to be understood that if the proper treatment incuring a skin requires it, the fur may be disposed innermost and thefleshy side of the pelt outermost.

When a skin has been cured and dried, this operation being technicallyknown as casing the pelt, it may be readily removed and the improvedstretcher frame be adapted for re-use as may be desired.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent:

1. A pelt stretcher, comprising a frame formed of a wire rod bentbetween the ends providing two side members, a cross bar bent on an endof one side member and extending across the end of the other sidemember, a depending hook on the free end of the last mentioned sidemember, spaced ring eyes on the cross bar, any one of which may beengaged by the said hook, a member mounted on the cross bar, and a hookfor engagement with the pelt and connected with said mem ber.

52. A pelt stretcher, comprising a frame formed of a wire rod returnbent to give the bend ovate form and provide two side members that maybe diverged at one end thereof, a cross bar bent on an end of one sidemember and extended across the other side member, a depending hook onthe free end of said side member, and spaced ring eyes on the cross bar,any of which may be engaged by the hook.

3. A pelt stretcher, comprising a frame formed of a wire rod, bentbetween its ends providing two side members, a cross bar formed on theend of one side member, means for detachably securing the end of theother side member on the cross bar at a selected point, a link rodmounted at one end 011 the cross bar, and having a series of spaced eyesformed thereon and acoupling hook for engagement with one of the eyes ofthe link rod, the said coupling hook being formed with an open ring andtwo limbs diverging from the ring and terminating in oppositely benthooks.

4. A pelt stretcher, comprising a frame formed of a wire rod bentbetween its ends, providing two spaced side members, a hook on one sidemember, a cross bar on the other side member that extends toward thehook, spaced ring eyes on the cross bar either of which may receive thehook, a link rod having ring eyes thereon, and mounted at one end on thecross bar, and a duplex hook that is formed with an open ring that maybe engaged with any of the ring eyes on the link rod.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

ROY H. BULLIS.

WVitnesses:

H. L. BULLIs, MARIE BUSHARD.

